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fueledGMAT
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2011 7:41 am
- Location: Colorado Springs, CO
- Thanked: 2 times
- GMAT Score:690
After taking the GMAT today, I felt obligated to give back to this community that did so much to help me gain a competitive score (I got a 690, yay!). Part of taking the GMAT today was answering 12 questions that did not contribute to my score, but were in the new format for the upcoming change in June. After taking the new section, I thought I might offer some insight on what to expect. Without further ado...
I must admit that testing the new course material after finishing the GMAT probably led to me remembering far less than I should. I didn't even get to see my score until after I took the new section, so my nerves were on edge as I attempted to focus on something that did not have any affect on my exam. Overall I must say that I did like the new section, but it had some things that could use improvement as well.
On my practice test there were 4 distinct quest types. Unlike the quant and verbal sections, the questions were not multiple choice A-E options. Instead, they were often set up in 3 main ways:
1. The question would give me several options and then some type of statistic problem with 2 variables. The problem would then ask me to solve something in relation to each of these variables. I would have 6-7 answer choices to choose from, and each variable would only allow a single choice. Essentially each question shared the same answer list, and I had to choose the best answer for both situations from the available list.
2. There was also a question type that reflected a combination of problem solving and critical reasoning. I would be given a scenario and asked if certain circumstances were feasible in this scenario. In this question type, there were typically only 2 answers to choose from, and like the previous each question shared the answers, although in this one an answer could be reused. For example (NOTE: THIS IS NOT A QUESTION FROM THE TEST I TOOK, I JUST MADE THIS UP RIGHT NOW), say that the data I was looking at was school admission rates and different factors that contributed to successful applications. The answer choices may have read either high chance of being accepted or low chance of being accepted. Then a question may present a scenario where a student's data is given and you must decide if based on that data that the student would get in or not.
3. The final kind of question seemed a bit odd to me, as it could have just as easily been a normal multiple choice question. Instead, they provide a drop down menu with a list of choices, and you have to choose the best option. This seemed unnecessary and I really did not like the feel of this question type.
Now for my overall opinion:
Pros: It really did feel that the new section was more appropriate to what a business student would learn instead of the AWA. I think this is the right direction and will make that portion of the GMAT more noticeable, especially to top B schools. I also liked the scenario based questions, as they felt remarkably similar to a case study (in fact, some of the questions actually presented data and then a case study to interpret). The charts and graphs were great, and I really liked how you could use some drop down menus to rearrange the chart data to view it in other aspects (such as most recent data, highest number of something, etc). One last thing I really, really liked... on this portion of the test you CAN USE A CALCULATOR!!!
Cons: There were a few areas of the test that I didn't like. Some of the questions had a passage, similar to the RC section, and then charts in a second tab. Most of the time I couldn't understand how the charts related to the reading, and the questions didn't seem to reflect a connection between the two. Either the question was answerable based on information in one of the charts, or the question was based on the reading, but I didn't see an example where it required a combination of the two. The instructions for the section were also inadequate and didn't prepare me for the questions. Finally, I did not like the wording in many of the questions, as it was hard to interpret what exactly the question was trying to accomplish (this was the most evident in the case study questions).
Overall I would say that GMAC is making the right decision implementing this new section, but it still needs work. I would strongly recommend taking the current GMAT as long as you are able to and not hold off simply to try the new test, as there seems to be limited information on how to beat the new material.
Thanks for listening to my rambling, and I hope this post is insightful.
v/r
Shaun
I must admit that testing the new course material after finishing the GMAT probably led to me remembering far less than I should. I didn't even get to see my score until after I took the new section, so my nerves were on edge as I attempted to focus on something that did not have any affect on my exam. Overall I must say that I did like the new section, but it had some things that could use improvement as well.
On my practice test there were 4 distinct quest types. Unlike the quant and verbal sections, the questions were not multiple choice A-E options. Instead, they were often set up in 3 main ways:
1. The question would give me several options and then some type of statistic problem with 2 variables. The problem would then ask me to solve something in relation to each of these variables. I would have 6-7 answer choices to choose from, and each variable would only allow a single choice. Essentially each question shared the same answer list, and I had to choose the best answer for both situations from the available list.
2. There was also a question type that reflected a combination of problem solving and critical reasoning. I would be given a scenario and asked if certain circumstances were feasible in this scenario. In this question type, there were typically only 2 answers to choose from, and like the previous each question shared the answers, although in this one an answer could be reused. For example (NOTE: THIS IS NOT A QUESTION FROM THE TEST I TOOK, I JUST MADE THIS UP RIGHT NOW), say that the data I was looking at was school admission rates and different factors that contributed to successful applications. The answer choices may have read either high chance of being accepted or low chance of being accepted. Then a question may present a scenario where a student's data is given and you must decide if based on that data that the student would get in or not.
3. The final kind of question seemed a bit odd to me, as it could have just as easily been a normal multiple choice question. Instead, they provide a drop down menu with a list of choices, and you have to choose the best option. This seemed unnecessary and I really did not like the feel of this question type.
Now for my overall opinion:
Pros: It really did feel that the new section was more appropriate to what a business student would learn instead of the AWA. I think this is the right direction and will make that portion of the GMAT more noticeable, especially to top B schools. I also liked the scenario based questions, as they felt remarkably similar to a case study (in fact, some of the questions actually presented data and then a case study to interpret). The charts and graphs were great, and I really liked how you could use some drop down menus to rearrange the chart data to view it in other aspects (such as most recent data, highest number of something, etc). One last thing I really, really liked... on this portion of the test you CAN USE A CALCULATOR!!!
Cons: There were a few areas of the test that I didn't like. Some of the questions had a passage, similar to the RC section, and then charts in a second tab. Most of the time I couldn't understand how the charts related to the reading, and the questions didn't seem to reflect a connection between the two. Either the question was answerable based on information in one of the charts, or the question was based on the reading, but I didn't see an example where it required a combination of the two. The instructions for the section were also inadequate and didn't prepare me for the questions. Finally, I did not like the wording in many of the questions, as it was hard to interpret what exactly the question was trying to accomplish (this was the most evident in the case study questions).
Overall I would say that GMAC is making the right decision implementing this new section, but it still needs work. I would strongly recommend taking the current GMAT as long as you are able to and not hold off simply to try the new test, as there seems to be limited information on how to beat the new material.
Thanks for listening to my rambling, and I hope this post is insightful.
v/r
Shaun
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
